


Folie à Deux

by Azia



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3953536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azia/pseuds/Azia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam was the embodiment of time. He was the lampless sea, the ship, and the tempest all in one. It was too much. Henry wanted to say so, but the invisible hands that were strangling him prevented him from speaking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emotional Contagion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The phrase "emotional contagion" embodies the idea that humans will synchronize their personal emotions with the emotions expressed by those around them, whether consciously or unconsciously, and thus that an emotion conveyed by one person will become "contagious" to others._

Bisexuality and just all kinds of homosexuality in general have been controversial topics throughout each and every time period of Henry’s life. He found it a good thing that he learned how to master the art of secret keeping. When he had found himself developing a sort of attraction for one of his childhood friends, he had managed to keep it hidden. When he had found his gaze lingering too long on one of his fellow comrades, he had managed to keep it hidden. When he had found himself taking second glances at one of the coffee boys from the station, he had managed to keep it hidden.

The bottom line is: he has managed to keep many things hidden.

Waking up in his “secret admirer’s” bed was another thing that he was going to have to keep hidden. He pulled the covers over his head and thought to himself just to find that he couldn’t think to himself. It had been difficult to think lately. Headaches always interrupted everything. His memory had been foggy. He could recall insignificant events in his life, but not important ones, such as how he had exactly ended up in his former stalker’s bed.

Henry rubbed his hands over his cheeks. His headache felt like it was on the verge of becoming a migraine. He slowly pried himself out of the bed. Maybe there was some pain relieving medication in the house.

Judging from the way the sun painted the hallways various shades of orange and pink, it was dawn. He glanced out one of the windows. He was still in New York City and in one of the brick apartments of Brooklyn it looked like. And his headache was still ongoing. Where was the bathroom?

The apartment was a pretty nice size. He passed by another bedroom and a few closets. The subject of his pulsing memory came back to his mind. How was he able to know whose home he was in, but not where the home was or what was in it? He had to investigate later, after he located the Tylenol.

He managed to find that the bathroom was just at the end of hallway and that its lights were on. He leaned against the entryway and looked down on himself. He was wearing sweatpants. He never wore such atrocious clothing. Something must have happened last night. But what?

“Hello Henry.” Those two words never seized to put a shiver down his spine. It didn’t matter whether the sensation was positive or negative. Adam stepped out of the bathroom, wearing an outfit that Henry would have preferred to be wearing. “You’re up early again. Do you usually have early morning awakenings? That’s a symptom of something bigger, you know.”

“Uh, no?” Adam… smiled? That was a new development.   

“You’ve been waking up quite early in the morning recently. I decided to give it a try. It isn’t that great. I don’t understand why you do it. But anyways,” Adam took a step closer to him, “good morning.”

“I have a splitting headache, and I believe that you can tell me the cause of it.”

“The proper response to ‘good morning’ is to say ‘good morning’ back.” Adam took Henry’s hand. “You said that you got over your headaches yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Henry looked down at their intertwined hands. It was familiar. He knew that he shared a relationship with Adam. He just didn’t know when or why. He felt like he didn’t know anything. “I cannot recall anything that happened yesterday.”

“Oh really?” Adam moved even closer to him. He pressed his nose into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply. “Does this ring any bells?” He then pressed his lips against his neck also. “Or this?” The side of his neck, just below the jaw, had always been a weak spot for Henry. He leaned into the touch, but it didn’t manage to make him forget about his of the moment issues.

Henry moved his hands to push Adam off of him, yet he found that one of his hands was still intertwined with his. Adam released him only a moment later with the usual frown on his face. He rubbed Henry’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later.” His frown deepened when he received no response from his partner. Adam was quick to detach himself from Henry and walk away.

Henry got lost in his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He was growing a full beard. He usually shaved once his stubble became bothersome. He absentmindedly stroked the hairs on his chin and jaw as he stared at himself.

There was an unopened box of Tylenol to his immediate right on the counter.


	2. The Attachment Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and '70s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult romantic relationships in the late 1980s. Four main styles of attachment have been identified in adults: secure, anxious–preoccupied, dismissive–avoidant, fearful–avoidant._

After swallowing two pills with water, Henry decided that the best remedy for all of his troubles was to go to sleep. A nice little rest never hurt anyone, and he desperately needed one. He didn't care that he had just woken up. Hopefully after his nap he would feel refreshed and be able to think clearly.

He briefly explored the rest of the home. It was a pretty nice space. Henry had underestimated Brooklyn.

He noticed that both of the bed’s pillows had head-shaped indentations. Henry absentmindedly traced his fingers along the edge of the pillow that he had not fallen asleep on. The hollow was still warm. As he tucked himself in, he decided that a little bit of critical thinking before a snooze didn’t hurt anyone. All types of thinking were healthy for the brain.

So Henry’s thoughts went like this: Adam did indeed sleep with him last night, and judging from the way that the man had greeted him just a moment ago, they must have had pleasurable night out on the town that ended with sex. Also judging from the way that Henry only felt pain in the uppermost part of his body, Adam must have been on the receiving end or they must have had a session of mutual masturbation.

Henry sighed to himself. He didn’t understand how he could think about such an intimate act and sensitive topic with the likeness of a robot.

Adam had smiled at him that morning, so their relationship must have been doing well. He had looked upset when Henry didn’t respond to his advances. And there was the box of Tylenol in the loop too. Adam had mentioned that Henry’s headaches had ended yesterday. His headaches must be linked to something bigger then, but Henry didn’t have the mental compactly to figure out what exactly.

On that note, he went to sleep.

⁂

The smell of cooking food aroused him from his slumber. Henry pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. Adam had returned from wherever he had went to and was preparing dinner. Upon closer inspection, Henry saw that he was making lamb chops. Henry’s mouth admittedly watered. He hadn’t had lamb in quite some time, he thought.

“Welcome back,” Henry said as he sat down.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Adam’s back continued to face him. The aroma of the frying lamb had circulated around the entire apartment in a matter of seconds and that did not help with Henry’s sudden bout of hunger. He studied Adam’s back as silence briefly enveloped over the both of them. Adam’s shoulders were hunched over, his posture was slouched, and his muscles looked tensed. He had used such a cold tone to greet Henry. He must have been newly angered by something or he was still upset by Henry’s actions from the morning. Maybe some simple conversation could cure his problem.

“Would you mind if I asked you some questions?” Adam gave no verbal or physical response. He just flipped the meat over in the pan. Henry took it as a signal to continue. “Could you explain why I am wearing such atrocious clothing?” Henry grabbed the thigh of his sweatpants and rumbled it in his hand. “Sweatpants are so unattractive. I wouldn’t be caught in the living daylight wearing these. I don’t even sleep in this kind of clothing.” Sweat suits were the root of all evil to Henry. If something could not be matched with a scarf, it was useless.

Adam’s head tilted slightly. Henry wasn’t sure if he was actually considering his question or if he was dismissing it. He flipped the meat again. It gave a loud pop and sizzle. “Your clothes were dirty from last night, so I washed them.” Adam’s voice returned to its slow and monotonous ways from the phone call days. Henry didn’t like it. He had actually seen a pleasurable side of the man that morning. He wanted to bring it back.

Adam turned off the stove and placed the lamb on two plates along with a side of mixed vegetables. He set down a plate in front of Henry along with a fork and took the seat opposite from him. The table was a normal size, not too big and not too small. The seats were comfortable too. They weren’t too far apart and leaning in toward each other was invited. Henry scooted his chair closer to the table and did so over his food. Adam slowly mimicked the action.

Henry stuck a pea on each prong of his fork and contemplated his next question. The sweatpants question had not been genuine. He was just starting off easy. Ratting off incriminating questions suddenly did not result in great answers. Henry knew that from experience.

“Stop beating around the bush.” Henry looked up at Adam and ate his peas.

“What do you mean?”

“Stop. Ask what you mean to ask.” Adam began to cut his lamb into squares. Each cube of meat was almost perfectly congruent to one another.

Henry sighed. His plan had been foiled before it even went into action. It wasn't a good plan anyway. He had conducted better. He began to cut his meat also. “I’m curious to know when did our relationship start and under what circumstances.” Adam visibly paused. He shook his head before he took a bite of one of the meat cubes. The question had actually been on Henry’s mind and he would have appreciated an answer. He wasn’t against their relationship. He could still feel towards Adam. He just didn’t know the depth of it.

“We became an item exactly 72 hours, 14 minutes, and six seconds ago from this very moment.” Henry smirked. So he had been counting even the seconds. It was a nice combination of creepy and sweet. “You were the one who had actually come to me about a week ago. You asked me to go out to dinner with you. You said that you wanted to grow a better understanding of me and vice versa. Ever since then I would like to think that we have a mutual respect and understanding for each other despite our differences and obviously different moralities. You were also the one who declared that our relationship was official three days ago.”

A peculiar sense of sadness filled through Henry. He had detected a familiar pain in Adam despite his dry way of speaking and deadpan expression. “I am very sorry for not remembering what happened. I think that I may have retrograde amnesia, but I’m not sure what the cause of it is.”

“If you still have memory loss tomorrow then I’ll take you to the doctor.”

“But I am a doctor.”

Adam raised an eyebrow and took a bite from his vegetables. “So?”

“I am a _doctor_ , meaning that I can diagnose myself. If I say that I have retrograde amnesia, then I am sure of it. I don’t need a second opinion.”

“It would be beneficial to go see a doctor who takes care of the living you know.” Adam’s cool demeanor gradually melted away and he was smiling again.

“Are you questioning my diagnostic skills?”

“Maybe.” He reached across the table and took Henry’s hand. Henry squeezed his hand in good humor. He had successfully brought out the light side of Adam again. The task hadn’t proved to be that difficult after all.

Henry studied over Adam’s responses as they both stopped speaking to eat their food. He hadn’t detected any dishonesty from him. Maybe their relationship had erased all distrusting ties in between them. Then again, had Adam ever lied to him? No matter how bizarre and off-color the man’s statements were, they had all proven to hold a weight of truth in them. Henry concluded that Adam’s explanations and promise were truths.

They both finished their food at around the same time. Their hands remained lazily entwined together for the entire duration of the meal. Henry never would have thought that he would have found someone as slow as him at eating. He liked to relax and enjoy his food and it looked like Adam had the same ideals. His cooking wasn’t half bad too.

“So, do you have anywhere to be?” Adam’s question was slow, hesitantly asked. Henry wondered why he was being cautious all of a sudden.

“No, I don’t think so.” Henry couldn’t think of anywhere else that he had to be at that exact moment, or any other moment to be exact. His schedule was surprisingly very empty. He thought that he was a busy man. Perhaps not then. His sudden memory loss was not helping with anything. “This might sound foolish, but do I have a job?”

“You just said that you were a doctor, so I’m assuming that you are a doctor.” Henry thought about that. He knew that he was a doctor. He had random access memories of himself preforming on various patients, living and dead, but he did not have the faintest idea if he was currently employed or not. He was getting frustrated.

“I don’t know if I currently hold a job or not though.”

“Well, you told me that you quit your job last week, but you never told me why.” Adam patted the top of his hand. “If having a job is important, then I can go out and ask about any available jobs for doctors who have obtained their degrees in Guam and Oxford.”

“That would be great. Thank you.” Adam shrugged and removed himself from Henry’s grasp. He collected the empty plates and used silverware and walked to the sink with them. Henry stood and walked after him. “I can wash the dishes since you cooked dinner.

“We will not be washing dishes tonight.” Adam ran some hot water over the dishes and left it at that. “Tell me, how are you feeling? Physically and emotionally.”

“I feel quite fine, thanks for asking. My headache has gone away. Thank you for the medication also. I’m not sure what you mean by emotionally though.”

“You know what ‘emotionally’ means. How are your emotions? Your feelings? You seemed uncomfortable this morning. I thought that you had completely forgotten about our relationship and I just making the entire situation weird this morning.”

“Oh, you’re worried if you made me uncomfortable this morning?” Adam shrugged again. He was hiding his concern. How adorable and nonchalant of him. “It’s fine. You didn’t make me uncomfortable at all. If I seemed irritable to you then blame my headache and amnesia.”

“All right then.”

Henry looked over Adam’s shoulder and chuckled. He could feel tension radiating off of the other man in too large of a quantity for him to handle. “I believe that I have figured out what exactly took place last night, and I will have to say that you give quite enjoyable kisses.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I am. I wish that I hadn’t forgotten about that aspect in particular. Now I feel sorry for myself too.”

“You should.” Adam took the sides of Henry’s face and pressed a chaste kiss against his lips. Henry smiled and placed his hands over Adam’s. He really did wish that he hadn’t forgotten about his kisses. They were simply splendid. “Do you like the apartment?”

“It’s very nice for a complex in Brooklyn.”

“Brooklyn is wonderful. I could’ve chose a place in the Bronx.”

“You should’ve chosen a place in Manhattan.”

“Why Manhattan?”

“I don’t know. There’s just something attractive about Manhattan. Maybe it’s the buildings, the world-class museums, and fine dining. I know that Brooklyn doesn’t have much of those things.”

Adam kissed him again. “There’s something attractive about every place in New York City; the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, all of them. They all have their perfections and their flaws.”

“That is what makes them so cherished by many.”

“Yes.” Henry moved his hands away from Adam’s and the man commenced to let his hands move down to the other’s neck. “Perfections and strengths and weaknesses and flaws build everything.”

“Tha—” Adam shushed him.

“No more talking. You are the chattiest man in all of New York City and beyond.” They then continued to kiss again and again and again.

⁂

Abraham dialed the police department’s number in his telephone faster than he had ever cared to call for the police before. His hands were shaking slightly. He was experiencing a combination of anxiety, fear, worry, and nervousness all at once – a lethal cocktail of emotions.

“Good afternoon. This is the New York Police Department, Detective Martinez speaking. How may I help you?”

“Oh my goodness Jo, Henry’s missing.”

“Missing? What do you mean missing? He just called in sick for the rest of the week like four days ago. I thought he was staying with you this entire time.”

“That would be wrong. I haven’t seen him in almost a week. I should’ve seen it coming. He was acting strange last week. Kept forgetting about everything. I literally handed him the newspaper and saw him read it about four times and he kept telling me the news over and over again. He kept on misplacing everything too. But anyway, he said that he had to dinner date to go to last week and I haven’t seen him since then.”

“Could you tell me what he was wearing when you saw him last?”

“The usual, you know. Black overcoat, blue scarf, matching belt and shoes. He polished his shoes about five times on the same day too. Kept forgetting that he did it.”

“Do you know any items that he might have taken with him, such as wallets, passports, or anything?”

“I have his passport, so I’m pretty sure he hasn’t left the country unless he used a fake one or something. I know he brought his wallet because I can’ find it anywhere. Besides, he had to bring money with him. He was going out to dinner.”

“And lastly, do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

“No clue. He never told me where he was going. I bet he forgot and got lost in the city. And I’m pretty sure he’s still in the city too.” Abe wasn’t so sure actually. He had waited for hours next to all bodies of water in Manhattan for Henry with no luck.

“Hey, don’t worry Abe. We’ll find him.”

“I hope so.”

⁂

Henry woke up early again. The previous night had proven to be anticlimactic both figuratively and physically since Henry’s headache had decided to make a sudden comeback and prevent all activities from advancing.

He stretched his legs out. They were in an awkward position due to him sharing a sleeping space with another grown man. As he tried to untangle his legs from Adam, the man began to awake also. Adam’s back was to him. Henry was curious to see what he looked like when he was asleep and waking up. Most people had youthful and peaceful expressions whenever they slept, no matter how much of a sour person they were in their waking lives.

Adam began to stretch also. “Good morning Henry.”

“Good morning.” Henry leaned forward and kissed the back of his neck. He at least owed that much to him. He felt like Adam was expecting more from him constantly and that he was failing to deliver. He didn’t know how to deliver anyway. He didn’t know anything about what Adam wanted. “My headache’s gone, but I still seem to have amnesia. Do you think that there will be a doctor available this early in the morning?”

“If you still have memory loss tomorrow then I’ll take you to the doctor.” Henry let the words echo in his head. They sounded very familiar.

“I thought you said that we were going today?”

“I never said that. You’re just now mentioning your amnesia to me for the first time now.” Henry thought to himself again. He could have sworn that Adam had said that they were going to the doctor today. Maybe his condition was worsening to the point where his mind was supplying him with false memories.

“Okay then, we’ll go to the doctor tomorrow.”


	3. Lock and Bolt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being in closed or small spaces or rooms. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack, and can be the result of many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and even tight-necked clothing._

Adam left again promptly at the same time as before. Henry took his absence as an opportunity to properly look around the house. Before he had only taken a quick peek around the place. Now was the time for him to make some observations.

He went down the hallway again. It was nearly pitch black. Adam must have drawn the windows before he left. Henry blindly ran his hand along the wall until he felt the light switch. He was taken aback when the hallway lit up. There were no windows.

He walked over to the opposite side of the hall and felt along the wall. He was absolutely positive that there had been windows there yesterday. He remembered that it had been dawn and the hallway was painted the color of the rising sun. He was positive. He was certain that there were windows there yesterday.

He continued to trace his hands across the wall. Windows didn’t just disappear. That was implausible, impossible.

Henry soon found himself at the end of the windowless hallway with no answers to anything. The kitchen looked the same. He hadn’t had much of a chance to explore the living room, but he was sure that there had been windows in there. He took a peek in the room. It was pitch black. No windows.

Henry rubbed his temples. He could practically feel the oncoming stress. He didn’t want his headache to return. Adam was the one who needed to come back. Maybe Henry was having false memories again. Maybe he had hallucinated all of the windows in the house, or he was hallucinating that there were no more windows.

He walked to the front of the apartment. He didn’t exactly want to leave. He wanted to explore the rest of the apartment complex to see if there were any residents or empty rooms without windows. He nearly sighed with every step he took. Henry was an exasperated man. He nearly choked on air when he reached his destination.

The front door was gone.

He touched the wall. Now, he was absolutely, positively, unquestionably, without a doubt certain that there had been a front door. The door was red, a fading shade of carmine to be exact. The edges of the paint had been peeling. The frame was beige and the doorknob was brass. The number eleven was on the door. He scratched at the wall. Maybe the drywall could peel off and reveal a door and Henry could convince himself that he was still a sane man.

He found himself continuing with his antics for a good five minutes or so before he gave up. He was trapped inside of a windowless, doorless home.

He turned back to the hallway. The lights somehow made the hall look longer and ominous. He couldn’t see what was on the other side from the angle that he was facing. He felt like if he walked down the hall the bedroom and bathroom would be gone also and when he returned to the front the kitchen and living-room would have vanished too, and he would find out that the entire home was an illusion and he was actually strapped up in a straightjacket and banging his head against the walls of an asylum.

He could practically feel the water being pushed into his lungs.

“Henry.”

Henry almost jumped out of his skin. He turned around quickly just to see that Adam was back. His hat was in one hand and the doorknob was in the other. He looked the slightest bit confused.

“I thought that you went back to sleep.”

“How did you get inside of the house?”

“By using the door.” Adam closed the front door and locked it behind him.

“No, but the door had vanished. I-It wasn’t here.” Henry touched the door. It certainly felt like a door. “A-And the windows too. They were gone.” Henry turned back to the hall. There were three large windows in the hallway. All of them colored the hallway the sunlight's hue of gold.

⁂

Detectives Hanson and Martinez booked it to the Brooklyn Hospital Center. Jo had received an e-mail stating that a patient fitting Henry’s description – brown hair, brown eyes, around five-foot-eleven, British accent – had been recently admitted into the operational ward. Jo found it farfetched. Brown hair and eyes and average height described billions of people, and having an accent did not exactly help. And Henry was in the operational ward? How had he gotten hurt? Had he been kidnapped? Was he injured severely? More and more scenarios circulated in her mind as she got out of the car and made her way to the hospital building.

Jo took out her phone and dialed Abe’s number. She needed to distract her mind before her imagination took a wrong turn. She could not bear the idea of someone hurting and possibly killing Henry.

“What’s up Jo?”

“I just wanted to tell you that me and Hanson are heading to the Brooklyn Hospital Center. A patient matching Henry’s description was just admitted into the operational ward, so we’re going to go check it out.”

“All right. A body from Brooklyn that matches Henry’s description just came in too.” Jo gulped.

“Let’s hope that that’s not Henry.”

“Yeah, let’s hope not.” They both hung up. Abe returned to Lucas. The man was just as Henry had said he was: extremely eccentric. Henry and Lucas must have been two peas in a pod with all of their quirks and idiosyncrasies.

It was obvious that Lucas was concerned about Henry. He was searching and swabbing the body with lightning speed.

The body did have a remarkable resemblance to Henry’s, right down to the scar on his chest. It was downright unsettling. Abe clasped his hands together and just prayed that it was not Henry. He didn’t want the search to end so soon.

“It’s not Henry!” Lucas did a victory fist pump in the air and threw his tools down. “It looks so much like him though. So creepy.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty damn creepy.” Lucas pushed the body into its cabinet. “I’ll call Jo and tell her.”

Jo let out a loud breath of relief once she learned that the body was not Henry’s. Her phone rang in the middle of the call. “One second Abe, I’m getting another call. It might be another sighting. The guy at the hospital turned out not to be Henry too.” She hung up and answered the next call. A man had called her to say that he found a man that matched Henry inside of a department store in Brooklyn. Jo was curious as to why she had gotten two calls from Brooklyn. The body had been from Brooklyn too, if she recalled correctly.

She looked back at Hanson to see him hang up his phone also. “We got another sighting at a restaurant. Says that he had just walked in and made an order.”

“What? I just got a call saying he was at the mall. Is the restaurant in Brooklyn?” Hanson nodded. “This is so weird. So, Henry must definitely be in Brooklyn.” Both of their phones rang again. More and more sightings from various people filled in. Henry was not only in the hospital, mall, and a restaurant, but also in another hospital, a park, a school, and a library too.

On the other side, more and more bodies came into the lab. Abe and Lucas counted up to seven more. They all looked like replicas of Henry, right down to his outfits and scars.

⁂

Adam rubbed Henry’s back as they both looked out of the window. The Englishman still wore a look of disbelief. They had been standing and staring out of the window for a good three minutes or so, but he still looked like he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“I must have schizophrenia,” Henry muttered. Adam caught his quiet words. He patted his partner’s back and then moved his hand away.

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“But I must. All of these hallucinations, delusions, and false memories all indicate that I have schizophrenia. I must be going crazy.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Adam repeated. “Go back to bed. You’ll feel better when you get up.”

“Are we going to the doctor tomorrow?”

“I promise.”

⁂

To put as simply as possible: Jo Martinez was feeling more emotionally distraught than usual.

She took a swing from her drink and squinted down at her computer screen. It was late and just about everyone had left the department. She had stayed to file through more reports of Henry sightings. All of the e-mails were from Brooklyn. He was in the middle of Brooklyn, the edge of Brooklyn, everywhere in Brooklyn. It was insane, but she didn’t want to even so much as blink until the case was solved. She needed to find Henry. Failure was not an option.

Jo hid her drink once she heard a door open and close behind her. She heard Lucas, Abe, and Hanson quietly speak to each other. Hanson and Lucas said goodbye and headed home. Jo didn’t hear Abe leave. She heard him walk closer to her and peer over her shoulder. There must have been hundreds of e-mails on her screen.

“All of the bodies were just doppelgängers, thank goodness.”

“Yeah, thank goodness.” A sudden thought came to the detective’s mind. “Abe, what is Henry to you?”

“Henry?” She nodded. “Henry’s a friend of the family. Very close friend to me too. Feels like I’ve known him forever.” Abe chuckled to himself. “I would say that I know him pretty well and this whole disappearance is not something he would do withour a reason.” He shook his head and leaned against her desk. “I should’ve called sooner. I’ve been having a busy week and I didn’t even notice he was gone.”

“It’s all right. Don’t blame yourself. You can’t exactly keep track of a person, especially Henry. He’s a free roaming creature with a mind of its own.” She ran her hands through her hair. “He’s definitely not dead. That’s one thing I know for sure.”

“How?”

“I just do. I feel it in my bones. He’s still alive and still in New York City. The only thing I don’t know is where. Where on Earth could he be?”

⁂

Racing heartbeat? Check.

Weakness, faintness, and dizziness? Check.

Tingling sensation in fingers? Check.

Breathing difficulties? Check.

Sense of terror, impending doom, and death? Check, check, check.

Henry was having a panic attack.

He covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes. It didn’t help. He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that someone had their hands around his neck and was personally pressing and squeezing his windpipe closed. He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the world had no windows or doors and he had no means of escape and that someone – he didn’t know who, but _someone_ – was coming after him with a bucket of water in hand and was ready to drown and resuscitate him again and again until he officially went insane. He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the darkness of the room was closing in on him, enveloping him, becoming one with him.

He held back a sob, but his eyes still watered. Fear was one hell of a feeling and he took a undiluted shot of it every day it seemed. It was never the bullet penetrating his chest that scared him though. It was the thought that the last thing he would remember was the bullet penetrating his chest.

He felt a hand on his back again. He nearly screamed before he realized that Adam was still in the room.

Oh, Adam.

Adam was so many things that he could not even begin on how to voice what he exactly was. Adam was the embodiment of time. He was the lampless sea, the ship, and the tempest all in one. It was too much. Henry wanted to say so, but the invisible hands that were strangling him prevented him from speaking. He wanted to thank Adam for being there. He felt so alone somehow. It felt like Adam was his only friend. No. Adam felt like the only person he knew. He must have forgotten about everyone else. How horrible of Henry.

“Breathe slowly Henry. You’ll be fine.” Henry tried to control his breathing as he was told. He inhaled and exhaled in the same rhythm as Adam. He felt small waves of calmness begin to wash over him bit by bit. Adam managed to gently pry his hands away from his face so he could breathe better. The man also wiped the unshed tears of terror from his eyes and continued to rub his back until Henry felt safe enough to open his eyes.

Henry knew the reasons behind the attack. The intense confusion, headaches, believing that something dire was wrong with him, and the chance that he might actually be locked in a room (an asylum’s perhaps) were all messing with his mind. He was being thrown overboard all over again and no bullets were even needed.

He slowly breathed in and out and allowed for his mind to focus in on his surroundings. Adam had grown silent and removed his hand. Henry waited for Adam to say something, anything. The man didn’t. He felt his heart begin to race again. No. Not again. Adam was still in the room. He was right behind him. He knew that. It was obvious. He needed to calm down.

He forced his head to turn around and face Adam. The man was still there. Henry could make out his features through the darkness. Only part of his face was really visible, but Henry could see that the man’s mouth was pulled into a taut line and he was looking back at Henry.

Henry looked back towards the bedroom door. Fear seized his chest as his eyes further adjusted to the darkness. The bedroom was still there. It was still there. He needed to calm down desperately. Reaching serenity seemed like an impossible task though.


	4. Folie Imposée

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Folie imposée is where a dominant person (known as the 'primary', 'inducer' or 'principal') initially forms a delusional belief during a psychotic episode and imposes it on another person or persons (known as the 'secondary', 'acceptor' or 'associate') with the assumption that the secondary person might not have become deluded if left to his or her own devices._

Jo felt it in her bones again. There was something different about the newest Henry sighting. There was something ominous about it. The call had been from a man with a calculating, monotonous voice. He gave minimal information and made it obvious that his only mission was to give the police his report that he had seen Henry inside of an abandoned apartment building. He hung up afterward without giving his personal info and an exact description of “Henry.” He just gave the address and hung up.

“Hanson,” Jo called out. Her fellow detective quickly walked over to her. “Let’s go. We got another sighting.”

“Another sighting?”

“This one’s different. I feel like it’s him this time.”

⁂

Adam moved Henry to a more comfortable position and held him for the remainder of the night. Adam somehow seemed to notice whenever Henry felt his gut begin to seize and his headache begin to throb. He would run his fingers through Henry’s unruly hair with the gentleness of a lamb and softly whisper, “You’re fine. Just breathe,” and Henry would believe that he was fine and just breathe.

Around the stroke of midnight, Adam began to hum a song. Henry’s ears perked up at the tune. He had heard it before. He wasn’t sure where. Judging from the dreary, slow melody it sounded like a song that was to played in times of grief.

Neither two of the men got any sleep that night. Henry yawned and Adam shifted their positions slightly when morning arrived. “Henry.”

“Adam?”

“If someone was after you and was going to murder you, would you kill them before they got the chance?”

The sudden question took Henry aback. He didn’t have to give it any serious thought though. The answer was almost automatic, “I would do everything in my power to protect myself, non-violently of course. I don’t believe that there is any point in killing this person because first, I am immortal, and second, killing is immoral.”

“What if someone was trying to harm your family?”

“Then I would take any measure to protect them.” Henry’s family briefly came to mind. He only had a few lingering memories of his father and they all showed the man in nothing but a glorious light.

“Even if it means killing this murderous person?”

“I have no control of their actions. There is near nothing that I would not do to protect my family.”

“If someone was trying to kill me, would you protect me?”

Henry chuckled softly to himself. He didn’t know why, but he found the sudden interrogation amusing. He had no clue what Adam’s point was and he didn’t feel like figuring it out. Sitting in the backseat and letting the driver drive for once felt interesting. “I believe that you can take care of yourself just fine.”

“Here’s a scenario for you: two criminals, non-compos mentis and have just escaped from prison, break into our home and try to harm the both of us. They come to me first and are simply torturing me to no end. They enjoy playing with their food before they eat it. They’ve, I don’t know, covered my mouth with a cloth and are pouring water over my face and dancing knives around my fingers.” Henry winced. Adam felt him wince. “Now, you were in the bedroom during this and have an advantage against them because we are in the kitchen or the front room or something of the sort. Would your weapon of choice be a knife or a gun?”

“I’m not sure. I’m more familiar with knives and a gun would attract attention, but a gun would be more efficient against a duo of criminals than a knife would.” Henry then shook the thoughts from his mind. “I don’t want to play this strange make-believe game anymore.” It was making him anxious.

“Sometimes a little make-believe is good for the soul. Anyways, they wouldn't stand a chance against us.” He leaned down and kissed the crown of Henry’s head. “You have nothing to worry about. And I’m glad that you've decided to be helpful if that situation were to ever arise. It would be a real drag if you were to just stand and watch everything happen.”

“It would now, wouldn’t it?”

⁂

Jo knocked on the door of the address. “NYPD. Open up. We have a warrant.” There was no answer. Jo nodded towards Hanson and they both got their guns poised. She experimentally turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. She raised an eyebrow as she stepped inside of the apartment. Things were getting more and more ominous by the moment.

There were no lights on in the home, but it looked like someone had been there recently. There were dishes in the sink and the bed was unmade. Jo lowered her gun. There was no one in the apartment. She checked over the address she had been given. No, they were in the correct place.

“Either Henry was never here or he just bounced before we got here.” Hanson entered the bedroom and lowered his weapon also. Jo huffed and looked out of the hallway window. The apartment complex was in a totally abandoned part of the city it looked like. There was not a single soul wandering around in the streets.

“Let’s do a more thorough search. You take the east side and I’ll take the west, okay?” Hanson nodded. He grabbed Jo’s shoulder before she could leave. “What?”

“We’ll find him. Don’t worry yourself down.”

“I can’t help _but_  worry myself down.”

⁂

Adam was in the midst of trailing kisses up and down Henry’s neck when his cellphone rang. He let out a frustrated breath through his nose and moved to check his phone. Henry cocked his head in his direction. He couldn’t make out the name on the screen because Adam was blocking the phone with his body. “I’ll be right back.” He left the door ajar on his way out.

Henry leaned on his back and folded his hands over his stomach. There were so many things to think about. He looked toward his left. There was definitely a door there. He looked toward his right. There was definitely a window there. It was dawn again.

He yawned again and shoved the window and door out of his mind. Thinking about his hallucinations might trigger another panic attack and Adam was too far away to be of assistance to him. Henry didn’t want to be alone while the world was crushing its walls on him ever again. He let his mind focus on Adam again. He had helped him during his attack, prevented a few more from happening, and held him throughout the night to ensure his safety. Adam held a lamp despite being the tempest.

A loud sound startled Henry straight out of his thoughts. He sat up and leaned toward the door. The hallway lights were off, but he wouldn’t have been able to see much anyway. He waited for a moment. Maybe Adam had dropped something on his way back to the bedroom. Henry gritted his teeth and prayed and hoped that Adam had dropped something.

He then heard people yelling. There were two different voices and they were both threatening Adam.

Henry pulled himself out of bed and walked toward the door. He felt his toe hit something. He bent down to pick up the object and held it up to the bedroom window’s light. It was semi-automatic handgun.

⁂

Their guy was putting up a hell of a fight. Jo and Hanson had been wrestling with the man for a good minute straight. “You have the right to remain silent,” Jo said once she got the man under control. Right when they showed him their police badges the man said that he knew where Henry was: dead. He said that Henry was dead. He killed him. Jo could not control the rage that was seeping through and Hanson seemed unable also. “Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Jo straddled the man’s back and Hanson pressed his arms down. She tried to clasp the handcuffs on him, but he would not stop squirming around.

“You have the right to an attorney,” Hanson continued for her. Jo didn’t think that she was able to keep on speaking anyway. She didn’t know what to do. She felt impending emotional wreckage coming her way at full force.

Jo heard a sound from the back of the home. She briefly paused handcuffing the man to listen. Hanson held the man down for her. It sounded like a door opening and a clicking sound. If she was not mistaken she heard the sound of a gun loading.

She pulled out her gun and switched places with Hanson. The man had gone silent and very still throughout the entire ordeal. “I believe that an old friend of yours has decided to join the party after all,” the man said. If Jo could she would have given him a good kick in the ribs. He needed one.

She aimed her gun towards the hallway. It was too dark to see anything, but someone was coming. She could hear their footsteps. The person was walking slowly though, as if they were unsure. If the man had backup then they surely would be running, not walking at a snail’s pace.

Her heartbeat accelerated with each step the person took. Her hands shook slightly around her gun. She righted them quickly. She couldn’t mess up her aim. Sometimes you only get one shot.

The backup stepped into the light of the front room slightly. She nearly dropped her gun. “Henry?” Her eyes widened in disbelief. It was Henry in the flesh and blood. She could only see him partially, but she couldn’t mistake his face with anyone else’s. “Henry, you’re alive. I just knew you were alive.”

“Henry?” Hanson shifted off of the man slightly to take a good look at the man in front of Jo. It was Henry. He looked like he had not seen the daylight in a long while. He almost had a full beard grown in, he needed a haircut, and if the detectives were seeing correctly he was wearing sweatpants. How un-Henry-like of him.

Henry was quiet throughout their rejoices. A gunshot went off. Jo looked down at her gun. She hadn’t pressed the trigger accidentally. She looked back at Hanson. He had been shot in the hand. The man they were arresting didn’t have any weapons on him. Jo poised her gun and turned back to Henry. He fired again and managed to get her in the hand also while she was caught off guard. She felt another hot bullet go through her leg and Hanson yelled in pain when the bullet ricocheted and hit him also.

Her leg buckled when she tried to move and Jo found herself face-to-face with the man. He was smirking. He slowly stood up, removed the unfastened handcuffs from his wrist, and walked over to Henry. Her eyes widened again when she saw him take the handgun away from Henry without any concerns. The Englishmen had a look of disbelief on his face. His hands were shaking. The man took Henry’s hands in his and whispered something in his ear. Henry nodded and sat down right at the hallway’s entryway.

Jo scrambled for her gun while the man’s back was turned. He had the gun now. Screw the reunion, he could finish them off right then and there. The man chuckled and walked over to her slowly. He pointed the gun at her and Hanson and kicked both of their dropped weapons away. “At least I am allowing for you two to take relief in the fact that he is still alive.” Jo turned her eyes to Henry. He was balled up and rocking himself back and forth slightly. What had that monster done to him?

The man, still pointing the guns at their heads, pulled out a cloth and duct tape. He shot the gun again in both of the detectives’ uninjured hands and legs. Jo bit her lip until she felt it bleed. She would not give the man the satisfaction of seeing her wallow in her pain.

She could smell it before it came. The man tied their useless arms and legs together and wrapped the cloth around their noses and mouths. Chloroform, alcohol, and valium were a hell of combination. She felt her muscles begin to twitch and spasm and grown numb upon her first intake of breath. She had to breathe. She didn’t have any other choice. Jo glared up at the man as he turned his back to them. He whispered something to Henry and Henry nodded again. The man that they had been searching for so long just got up and disappeared down the hallway. Jo watched his figure blend into the shadows as her vision began to fail her.

⁂

Reece was growing greatly concerned over Martinez and Hanson. They had been gone for over two hours on their new report. She tried contacting them by every method possible, but she didn’t get as much as a request for a voicemail when she called their cellphones. She called a squad over to track them down.

She didn’t understand what was so special about an abandoned apartment complex in Staten Island that made them want to dillydally.

⁂

When Adam returned to Henry he saw that the man had eaten, taken a shower, and changed out of his “hideous” clothes into something more respectable. Even though Henry was full and clean, it was obvious that he was still shaken up. He was holding his hands together so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. There was a flushed look on his face and his eyes kept on wandering around the room.

Adam wrapped his arms around him. Affection was very much due at that moment. He swayed Henry into a more calming motion and began humming again. It took Henry a while to respond to his touch and Adam would never admit that he was relieved to see that his partner hadn’t been completely pushed off of the edge just yet.

⁂

Abe had transferred his bedroom next to his telephone. He wanted to receive news about the case not a second too late. He leaned his head back against the wall and went through the seventh volume of Henry’s photos with an unfinished plate of dinner at his side. Looking at Henry managed to put a calming effect over him. Abe had managed to make it to Henry’s 70’s period, a decade before Abigail left them. They all looked like the perfect family in their photos.

One photograph caught his eye. The edges were bent. It was a picture of Henry dialing a number into the telephone that they had installed in their new home on June 14, 1972. Abe knew that the picture originally did not have bent edges. He pulled the photo out and inspected it. There was writing on the back: _“Locker 922. Mapleton, Brooklyn. Combo: 72-14-06.”_

Abe stared at the words for a moment. The penmanship looked like Henry’s, but he wasn’t too sure. He wasn’t too sure about anything anymore since he saw what felt like hundreds of dead Henry lookalikes. Nonetheless, Abe grabbed his jacket and headed to Mapleton.


	5. Misery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Adam._

Jo didn’t want to wake up. She could feel the pain of her legs and hands through her sleep. It hurt like hell. She didn’t want to get up. She just wanted to sleep the pain off. That would be much easier. Her body jolted though and forced her to wake up some. She could hear someone calling her name in the distance. She was tempted to yell for them to shut up and just let her sleep. She was in pain. She felt miserable. She didn’t want to fucking get up.

“Jo wake up, c’mon.” Hanson used all of his might to shift his chair closer to her. He had woken up five or so minutes before her to discover that they were both bounded to chairs and inside of a basement it looked like. The odd thing though was that their wounds were wrapped up in cloths. He still felt a numbing pain where he had gotten shot, but at least the bleeding had been stopped some.

Hanson kept on calling Jo’s name and moving closer to her. She had not moved since he had woken up. He didn’t know exactly how long it took for someone to bleed out, but they both received relatively the same injuries and were wrapped up to some degree.

Jo acknowledged the voice after a while. “What?” She felt like shit and exhausted. She tried to turn her head to the voice. “What do you want?” The voice said something incomprehensible. She wasn’t fully aware just yet. Jo stretched out as much as she could – she couldn’t move her arms or legs for some reason – and slowly opened her eyes. More darkness welcomed her vision. She blinked a few times to force her eyes to adjust. She had never seen such pitch darkness in a room before.

Her night vision set in eventually and she recognized that Hanson was beside her and that their situation was dire. Both of their eyes quickly scanned around the basement and their restraints. There was a combination of rope and duct tape around their hands and feet and they were sitting in wooden chairs. The basement looked fairly large from what they could see and didn’t have much in it. There were a few boxes here and there. They couldn’t find a staircase or a door of any kind.

Jo spotted something out of the corner of her eye on Hanson’s side. “Hey, what’s that?” She gestured her head toward where the object was. Hanson moved his chair slightly and squinted at it. He could just make out some glass bottles, no, _graduated cylinders_. He was having a flashback into chemistry. There were more glass tubes with liquids of various colors in them. Other than the chemistry glassware, he couldn’t really see anything else.

“It looks like somebody was conducting some experiments here.” He smelled the air. There was a slight bleach odor now that he thought about, but it wasn’t very strong so the tubes must have been closed. They would’ve died long ago anyway if that man had tried to gas or poison them.

“How are there no doors,” he heard Jo mutter. He looked around the basement. The room was really giving off a claustrophobic aura.

There was a sound in the distance. Both of their heads turned to the left. There were footsteps that were approaching them. The man was probably back, Jo thought, and he was coming to finish them off.

“Hello detectives.” The man had changed his clothes and was wearing a flat cap.

⁂

Henry rubbed his hands over his cheeks. His headache felt like it was on the verge of becoming a migraine. He slowly pried himself out of the bed. Maybe there was some pain relieving medication in the house.

Judging from the way the night sky shaded the hallway various shades of blue and purple, it was dusk. He glanced out one of the windows. New York City had only recently ceased to amaze him. The skyline never changed and looked the same as every other skyline. The stars were barely visible in some areas. He vaguely recalled that he had wanted to take a trip to the more rural part of New York, but he didn’t know what had prevented him from doing so.

Henry struggled to locate the bathroom in the dimly-lit apartment. He was getting a serious case of déjà vu when he took out an unopened box of Tylenol from the bathroom’s medicine cabinet.

⁂

Adam kept on reminding himself that there would be a day when he was going to grow bored of it all. Slicing, shooting, and suicide would no longer have the thrill that it used to and he would become an even hollower version of himself. Today was not the day though. The sight of not only one, but _two_ mutilated bodies still gave him the familiar rush of adrenaline and chill of madness. It was all still beautifully breathtaking.

Detective Michael Hanson had given up really before the game had started, but Josefina Martinez, had some derring-do in her. He hadn’t destroyed someone with as much spunk as her in a while. She would not stop screaming and spitting at him. Adam only continued his endeavors without even so much as a crack in his demeanor.

Once he thought that he was finished with her, he could see that her eyes were still wildly searching around the basement, assumedly looking for an exit. Adam leaned down to her eye level. She focused in on him. He took her by the chin for good measure. He wanted to be her last memory.

“There are… levels to every emotion. For example: fear. Fear has three levels that come with the entire package. I believe that they are apprehension, the anticipation of the negative, fear itself, the expectation of a threat or danger, and then terror, the overpowering feeling of panic or dread. I believe that you have gone through each level, hm?” Her eyes widened up at him. He didn’t want to decipher what the look meant. “But with our, excuse me, _my_ beloved Henry I have a few mixtures of emotions with him, like fear and trust. There are levels to trust too, but I don’t think that you have much time to sit around and listen to them.

“When you mix apprehension and acceptance together, you get submission. And then when you mix serenity and acceptance together, you get love. Interest and serenity together create optimism. I feel like he really only feels acceptance towards me. I’m hoping that I will be able to shift his feelings without doing too much damage to him. What do you think?” He paused and looked at Jo again. Her eyes were beginning to glaze over. “That’s what I thought. No matter what you do you cannot force a person to love you. At least I hope that this little removal of the insolent characters from his life might prove something. If not, then I am out of luck.” A hazy film developed over the female detective’s eyes when he finished his last sentence.

Adam slowly rose back to his feet, cracked his knuckles, and headed upstairs. He changed out of his bloodied clothing on the way up to where Henry was staying and put on an identical outfit that he had left waiting at the top of the staircase. He washed his face with a prepared rag also before he stepped inside of the home.

He heard Henry inside of the bathroom. He was probably taking more pain medication. Adam could only guess what state the man was in now. Everything was a guessing game with him.

Adam waited outside of the bathroom and closed his eyes. A mixture of pensiveness, the suggestive state of sad thoughtfulness, and boredom, the lack of interest in surrounding opportunities, created remorse. And interest mixed with annoyance, the irritation and distraction from one’s conscious thinking, created aggressiveness.

“Hello Henry,” Adam said. Henry raised an eyebrow at him. He recognized him. That was good. “Why are you up so late? You should go back to sleep.”

“Why were you out so late?”

“Unlike some of us, I have a job.” Adam placed his hand on Henry’s back. The touch was invited. “Let’s eat and then head to bed, I know that the both of us are hungry and tired.” They traveled to the kitchen together.

“I am having a serious toll with déjà vu right now.”

“Maybe we’ve gone through this exact routine before. You have a tendency of waking up at random times throughout the night. Maybe you don’t remember.”

“I feel like I’m having trouble remembering things also.”

“If you still have memory loss tomorrow then I’ll take you to the doctor.”

“All right.”

⁂

Abe set down the fireproof safe that he had found inside of the Mapleton locker on top of the table that Lucas had pointed him out too. Reece was in the room also. She had decided to personally administer everything that happened in the Morgan-Martinez-Hanson disappearance case since yesterday. The squad that she had sent after her tardy detectives had returned with absolutely nothing. Sometimes you needed to get your hands dirty in order to get things right, she thought.

Lucas wanted to take safety precautions with the safe. They had no clue what was in it. The safe was surprisingly light. There couldn't have been anything that could do too much damage inside of it, but it was better safe than sorry.

“So, uh, what’s the combo to this?” Abe pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Lucas. It was an old looking picture of Henry. The date read that it was 1972 on it. Lucas wasn’t sure whether it was a relative of Henry’s or just some old-schooled theme photo shoot, because the man didn't look any older or younger. Lucas flipped the photograph over. Directions to the locker and the combination were written in Henry’s handwriting on it.

Lucas carefully opened up the safe. 72-14-06. Reece and Abe leaned forward to try and see what was inside of the box. He held the safe up to the light. There was only a slip of paper inside of it. Lucas took the paper out, took one last peek in the empty safe, and then walked back over to the other two people in the room.

“Looks like there’s just a note in there.” He handed the paper to Reece.

“ _05:05:15_ ,” she aloud. Reece glanced down at her digital watch. It was precisely that time. Lucas’ eyes widened. He ran back to the safe. There was something in the bottom of it now. It looked like a small chemical bomb. There was a suspicious bleach-y smell in the box, but he had paid no mind to it.

“Guys, we gotta get out of here!” They all ran to the door. It was locked. Abe took the fire extinguisher and swung at the door’s window. The glass was only creaking slightly. It was laminated. An orange cloud of pure chlorine was forming behind them. They raced to all of the windows inside of the small laboratory. They all were stuck. Reece didn’t understand how. She could’ve sworn that she had opened a window when she entered the room because it was too hot.

Abe leaned against the window he was trying to open. The gas was getting to him. He felt like the toxins had hands that were wrapping around his neck and adventuring through his chest and lungs. He spotted Henry’s dropped photograph on the floor by his feet. Abe bent down to pick it up and held the picture to his chest.

⁂

Adam handed Henry a plate of the nice lamp chop dinner that he had made with a side of vegetables. Henry took a knife and fork and began to eat the food immediately. “I’m feeling a sense of déjà vu again.”

“We had lamp chops a few nights ago, if that’s what you’re talking about.” Adam slowly cut his meat into squares.

“Really?” Henry stuck a pea on each prong of his fork and contemplated what he could ask. He had dozens of questions whizzing around his mind.

“Stop beating around the bush.” Henry looked up at Adam and ate his peas.

“What do you mean?”

“Stop. Ask what you mean to ask.” Adam ate a bite of meat. He hated lamb.

Henry sighed. His plan had been foiled before it even went into action. It wasn't a good plan anyway. He had conducted better. He began to cut his meat also. “I’m curious to know why I have woken up in your apartment. Did we do something last night?”

“Your memory really is fleeting. Your home was flooded due to a pipe issue and you have been staying with me for 72 hours, 14 minutes, and six seconds now.” Henry smirked. So he had been counting even the seconds. It was a nice combination of creepy and sweet. “That also marks the amount of time since you have declared our relationship official.”

A peculiar sense of sadness filled through Henry. He had detected a familiar pain in Adam despite his dry way of speaking and deadpan expression. “I am very sorry for not remembering what happened. I think that I may have retrograde amnesia, but I’m not sure what the cause of it is.”

“I said that we will go to the doctor tomorrow.”

“I know. A little self-diagnostics never hurt anyone. I am a doctor now.”

“My apologies for questioning your skills Dr. Morgan.” Adam reached across the table and took Henry’s hand. Henry squeezed his hand in good humor.

“You know what.” Adam brought Henry’s hand closer and kissed his knuckles. He ran his thumb over his fingers. “It’s good to have to all to myself.”

“I believe that it’s safe to say that the feeling is mutual.” Henry smiled. Apprehension mixed with distraction, the diversion of attention, created awe, and that was good enough for Adam for now.


End file.
